Monday, August 14, 2006

It's A Privilege Just To Be Nominated

The IGA (International Gamers Awards) finalists have just been announced - so let me share the nominees with you... and, of course, make a couple of comments.

General Strategy Games (Multi-Player)
  • ANTIKE - I've only played this once (and that game ended prematurely), but I really liked the rondel mechanic.
  • BLUE MOON CITY - haven't played it
  • CAYLUS - haven't played it... I'm afraid that it's going win, though.
  • DAS ENDE DES TRIUMVIRATS - haven't played it
  • HACIENDA - liked my one playing of this, but it wasn't compelling enough for me to buy it
  • INDONESIA - haven't played it
  • JENSEITS VON THEBEN - I've played this twice and would gladly buy a copy if I could afford it... an amazing design that fully captures the them... this is my personal pick that I'd like to win (it probably won't).
  • MYKERINOS - haven't played it
  • RAILROAD TYCOON - haven't played it
  • THURN & TAXIS - my one playing left me impressed - I'd like to play it again. (Short review: a gamer-y Ticket To Ride.)
  • UM KRONE & KRAGEN - nifty game that crosses M:tG and dice rolling... I don't think this one has a snowball's chance, though.
General Strategy Games (two player)
  • ATON - haven't played... looks VERY abstract
  • BLOKUS DUO (also called Travel Blokus) - a really nice 2 player version of Blokus... won't win.
  • PUNCT - haven't played
  • TWILIGHT STRUGGLE - haven't played... has a good chance at winning as it takes the We The People card-driven wargame system and layers on the Cold War theme. (A shorter playing time doesn't hurt, either.)
  • WAR OF THE RING: BATTLES OF THE THIRD AGE - it's an expansion to a game I haven't played
I won't talk about the wargame nominees... since I know diddley about them.
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2 comments:

  1. huzonfirst7:47 AM

    If you get the chance to play Aton, Mark, do it. It's a wonderful game that doesn't really have an abstract feel at all, despite a lack of theme. Nor is it a blind selection game; you're trying more to optimize the placement of the cards you drew that turn, rather than outguess your opponent (although anticipating your opponent's actions does come into play some). It has lots of decisions and plays fast. It, Jambo, and Roma are the outstanding German-style two-player games to come out the last couple of years.

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  2. Patera Silk3:18 PM

    I just played Blue Moon City last week, and I really liked it. It's a solid middleweight game with some neat mechanisms.

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